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(11) | EP 1 380 524 A3 |
| (12) | EUROPEAN PATENT APPLICATION |
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| (54) | Sheet feeding device and image forming apparatus equipped with the same |
| (57) A sheet feeding device (5) in which sheets contained in a sheet container (4) detachably
attached to an apparatus main body are fed by a sheet feeder, including a sheet support
member (4) provided in the sheet container (4) to vertically move while supporting
the sheets (P), a lifter for raising and lowering the sheet support member (4), a
cam member (38) to lower the sheet feeder to bring it into contact with the sheets
(P) when the sheets (P) are sent out and to raise the sheet feeder to an upper initial
position on standby, a detector (37) for detecting the height of the sheets (P) according
to the position at which the sheet feeder abuts against the sheets (P), and a controller
for controlling the raising and lowering operations of the lifter on the basis of
the detection result of the height of the sheets (P) as obtained by the detector (37)
to maintain the uppermost surface of the sheets (P) at a predetermined height, in
which, when the sheet container (4) is accommodated in the apparatus main body, the
raising operation of the cam member (38) is canceled by the sheet container (4), and
the sheet feeder is lowered from the initial position to enable the detector (37)
to perform detection. |